a. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to printing apparatuses, and more particularly to a printing apparatus such as a printer and a typewriter having a carriage which moves along a platen on which a printing medium is placed.
b. Description of the Related Art
Recently, printing apparatuses have been provided with an automatic loading function in which a printing medium, such as a sheet of paper, is automatically loaded to a print position. When loading the printing paper, certain well known steps must be taken so that the printing paper does not hit a printing head, a paper holder and the like.
Generally, a printing head is mounted on a carriage which is driven by a space motor, and a paper guide is provided on the carriage. When setting the printing paper on a platen, the printing paper is transported along the paper guide so as to pass a predetermined path. However, because various kinds of printing paper are used ranging from a narrow printing paper to a wide printing paper, the position of the carriage is set so as to be convenient for all kinds of printing paper on the average.
Conventionally, the mechanism and control for making the automatic loading of the printing paper on the platen are relatively simple. However, when a narrow printing paper is loaded, a side edge of the printing paper passes a vicinity of the printing head and a paper jam may occur when a tip corner of the printing paper is caught by a mask hole which is formed between the printing head and the platen. On the other hand, when a wide printing paper is loaded, a wide portion of the printing paper is not held down by the paper guide. For this reason, a paper jam may occur when the tip end of the printing paper which passes the printing head floats from the platen and is caught by the paper holder such as a bail roller.